Richard Long joins the ELS Team

Richard Long has worked in the helping professions for the past 18 years working in leadership positions in wilderness therapy, community behavioral health, therapeutic boarding schools, and public high schools. Richard is passionate about helping youth and young adults succeed, overcome difficult circumstances, and become the best version of themselves. Richard specializes in providing tiered interventions, restorative frameworks, and youth and adult leadership models. Richard completed a Master of Social Work from Arizona State University in 2007 and a Master of Educational Leadership from Capella University in 2016. He loves his family (wife and 4 kids), his bikes (mountain or road), and his ropes (rock climbing and canyoneering)!

The Importance of Drug, Alcohol & Substance Abuse Prevention & Education in Schools and the Effect It Has

The latest Monitoring the Future survey revealed that drug abuse is declining among America’s teens, yet an alarming number of students are still putting their lives at risk by abusing drugs and alcohol. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, around 50% of teenagers have tried illicit drugs at least once in their lifetime. With illicit drugs, misuse of prescription drugs, and binge drinking providing cause for concern across the US, it’s useful to explore and analyze the importance of drug, alcohol and substance abuse education in schools and to evaluate the impact it has.

The importance of substance abuse education in schools

  Education provided in schools plays an instrumental role in educating children and teens about the potential implications of their actions and habitual behaviors. Many parents choose to speak to their children about taking drugs and drinking alcohol, but not every child will receive an education of this type at home. Drug and alcohol education in schools can help to ensure that no child slips through the net, and also offer a different perspective of substance abuse and a different arena in which to share comments, thoughts, or experiences. Some students may be apprehensive about talking to their parents or being honest with them, and school-based activities and programs may be more effective.   There are several reasons why drug and alcohol education is crucial in schools. A comprehensive curriculum can provide pupils in middle school and high school with information that could have a significant impact on the choices they make both at school and in the future.   Essential factors to consider include:

  • Spotting the warning signs of addiction
  • Understanding the potential implications of taking illegal drugs or drinking too much and raising awareness of addiction
  • Learning about the impact of addiction or illicit behavior on others, including friends and family members
  • Understanding how to help others who may be struggling
  • Figuring out ways to cope with stress, sadness, or anxiety without drinking or taking drugs
  • Providing an insight into the kind of help that is available if you are going through a tough time

The current situation

  2018 statistics show that although drug abuse and binge drinking are becoming less prevalent in school-aged children, there is still a long way to go. More than a third of students in the 12th grade smoked marijuana last year, with over 3% taking LSD and 2% trying cocaine. Over 13% of 12th-grade students and almost 9% of 10th-grade pupils admitted to binge drinking. The reality is that despite improvements, there are still hundreds of teens putting their lives at risk.   Drug and alcohol education can help to reduce the risk of students falling foul to drugs. This relates not only to pointing out the implications of abusing drugs or alcohol, but also to teaching children to learn to cope with potential triggers for stress, anxiety, and depression and to enable them to adopt positive ways of thinking that give them the confidence to say no to things they don’t want to do or to break a habit.

The impact of drug, alcohol and substance abuse education in schools

  Every day you spend in school is a learning experience, but often, curriculums are so focused on mainstream educational classes that they miss out valuable life lessons. Many pupils will have little or no idea about the potential consequences of smoking cannabis or drinking shots of vodka when they try them for the first time. Often, with alcohol and marijuana, which are considered ‘soft’ substances, students assume that there is nothing to worry about, but both of these substances are highly addictive. Drug and alcohol abuse education in schools is vital for providing teens with the information they need to make choices, and equipping them with the skills they need to get by in the outside world where they may be more likely to take drugs or drink too much. Additional programs like Education Life Skills’ Marijuana Prevention course can reinforce school learning and provide additional support for educators and parents looking to help the children in their care.   There has been a great deal of debate about the efficacy of school drug education programs in the US in the past, but the National Institute of Drug Abuse suggests that school drug campaigns are effective when they are well-researched and delivered in an engaging manner that takes the target audience into account. The most recent MTF survey suggests that drug and alcohol abuse are becoming less commonplace among students at middle and high school, and this would suggest that school programs are having a positive impact. Figures for binge drinking, for example, have fallen from 31.5% of 12th graders in 1998 to 13.8% in 2018.   In addition to school programs, which are implemented as part of the curriculum, other approaches can also offer a solution. In Indiana, the mother of a 16-year-old who died after taking a synthetic drug called 25I-NBOMe, has convinced more than 40 schools across the state to participate in events and activities as part of National Drug & Alcohol Facts Week. Jeanine Motsay, mother of Sam, stressed the importance of providing students with facts and taking steps to bust myths that surround drug and alcohol consumption that are often perpetuated through music videos, TV shows, and movies.

Prevention is better than cure

  One of the most important aims of drug and alcohol education programs should be to promote prevention. The National Institute on Drug Abuse suggests that every $1 spent on prevention contributes to a 10-fold saving on drug treatment. One key element is adjusting the mindset of individuals who are compelled to use drugs or drink excessively as a coping mechanism. Education Life Skills’ Captivity- Substance Abuse Prevention course is designed to promote prevention in a way that helps parents and educators to help teens build self-esteem, increase confidence and adopt a way of thinking that eliminates cravings and empowers them to make better choices.   We tend to think about school classes as a means of teaching students to read maps or work out equations, but lessons that are focused on educating pupils about the risks of taking drugs and drinking excessively should form an integral part of classes for youths. These sessions, which can be supported by external programs and local and national events and campaigns, provide young people with valuable information, insightful stories, examples and case studies, and advice about seeking help or assisting others.

How Do We Stop Distracted Driving? It’s a Deadly National Crisis for Our Teens

Did you know that every single day, 9 people lose their lives and more than 1,000 people are injured on US roads as a direct result of distracted driving? Distracted driving is a problem across all age groups, but studies suggest that teenagers are the most commonly affected demographic. The CDC claims that drivers under 20 are more likely to be killed in a car crash caused by distracted driving than any other age bracket. The statistics don’t lie, so why is distracted driving so common among young people, and what can we do to put a stop to it? What exactly is distracted driving? Distracted driving is a term given to anything that takes your eyes or your attention off the road. There are 3 main types of distraction, including

  1. Visual: this is a distraction that causes you to take your eyes off the road, for example, reading a text message
  2. Manual: this form of distraction makes you take your hands off the wheel, for example, opening a message on your phone or adjusting the radio
  3. Cognitive: cognitive distractions prevent you from focusing on driving, for example, talking to a passenger

The most common type of distraction for drivers under the age of 20 is using a cellphone. This may relate to making phone calls, texting or reading text messages or emails, or using social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. When you’re on your phone, the risk of being involved in an accident is high. You might not have both hands on the wheel if you’re holding the handset, your focus won’t be on driving, and your eyes will be on the screen, rather than on the road. Texting while you drive is particularly dangerous. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reading or sending a message involves you taking your eyes off the road for 5 seconds, which is sufficient time to drive the length of a football pitch.

What are the consequences of distracted driving?

One of the most important messages we can provide teenage drivers with via Education Lifeskills courses and awareness programs in middle and high schools is the gravity of the consequences of distracted driving. When you drive a car, you’re not just responsible for your own safety, you also have a duty to protect others from harm. This includes passengers, pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users. The implications of distracted driving can be horrific and life-altering. Examples include:

  • Legal action and police charges, fines, and penalties
  • Harming yourself and sustaining injuries
  • Injuring or even killing another person
  • Damage to your car
  • Higher insurance rates
  • Dealing with parental disappointment and anger
  • Losing your license

There are driving laws in place to prevent distracted driving, but there are also many things educators, parents, and external providers of courses and programs for youths can do to encourage young drivers to be responsible behind the wheel. Here are some ideas to promote distracted driving awareness in schools and communities:

  • Providing driver education classes in middle and high school: most students learn to drive outside of school, but offering sessions that are designed to highlight risks and encourage safe driving can be an incredibly useful addition to the curriculum.
  • Organize events and campaigns that raise awareness of common causes of accidents among teens, including distracted driving, drink driving, and speeding. Schools in Williamson County launched a new program called Checkpoints after losing five students in crashes between November 2016 and January 2017. This involved engaging in one-to-one training sessions in order to obtain a parking permit for the school. The county also applied for a grant to provide schools with VR goggles to provide students with an accurate insight into what happens when you face potentially hazardous situations.
  • Talk about the risks of distracted driving in classes and offer additional sessions for those who want to learn more. If students are aware of the risk of texting while they drive, they’ll be more likely to put their phone down when they take to the wheel.
  • Use case studies and facts to back up your argument: many of us assume that car crashes are something that happens to other people, but the reality is that anybody can be involved in an accident. Using case studies and statistics and facts can help to clarify your argument and make teens more aware of the risks of taking their eyes off the road, even for a second. A CDC survey from 2015 suggests that over 40% of young people text or send emails while they drive.
  • Discuss external organizations and arrange talks for young drivers: there are several organizations that specialize in promoting safe driving among teens, including End Distracted Driving and Impact Teen Drivers, and there’s also a host of online resources available. Education Lifeskills offers a great, interactive Distracted Driver course for teen drivers who find it difficult to stay focused when they’re driving.
  • Limiting the use of cellphones in schools to get students used to being away from their phones.

Why is distracted driving so common in teens?

Today’s teenagers have grown up in a world that is very different due to the rise in popularity of the Internet, cellphones and social media. Research suggests that Americans check their phones up to 80 times per day, and the figure may be even higher among teens. Young people communicate by phone, they like to keep in touch with friends and family throughout the day, and many also feel obliged to keep tabs of their social media accounts. A poll conducted by the AAA suggests that 94% of teen drivers are aware of the potential risks of texting while driving, but over a third still do it. Teen drivers are four times more likely to be involved in crashes than adults when texting or talking on a cell phone. Part of the problem is that teens are so used to having their phones with them all the time that they can’t resist the temptation to make a call, scan their Instagram feed, or send a text even though they’re driving. The aims of campaigns and distracted driving courses should be to educate young drivers about the consequences of distracted driving, but also to highlight the fact that you don’t have to be connected to your phone 24-hours-a-day. If a call is urgent, it’s much safer to pull over or to use an in-car hands-free system. Education Lifeskills’ course is not a traffic program, but rather a training module that emphasizes the importance of a safety-first approach to driving. Distracted driving is the most common cause of car accidents among young drivers. To tackle the crisis, teenage drivers, parents, educators, nonprofits, and external training providers can work together to raise awareness of the dangers of distracted driving and make our roads a safer place for everyone.

Setting Social Emotional Goals for Yourself & Students

Although education has typically been viewed as being about giving students academic and technical skills, there’s an increasing recognition that social-emotional development is important, too.

Data suggest that IQ is not a complete predictor of job performance. EQ, or a person’s emotional intelligence quotient, is possibly more critical because of the growing role of collaboration, teamwork, and interpersonal skills in the modern workplace.

The question for educators, therefore, is how to set better social-emotional goals for themselves and their students. In short, what can educators do to foster emotional development among the people in their care to help them get to where they want to go?

Recognize That Goals Should Be Unique To The Individual

When it comes to our emotions, people are different. Some people have issues regarding anger, while for others self-attack and rumination lead to mood disorders, like anxiety. Any suitable goal setting strategy must reflect the individual needs of the person concerned.

Use The SMART System

Setting goals shouldn’t be a blind process either for you or your students. It should be couched in a framework derived from the science of behavioral change, like the SMART system.

Goals should be specific in the sense that they should refer to a particular social-emotional circumstance, like how you or your students feel while in group situations. For instance, a student might want to address his or her feelings of fear or laziness while working with other people.

Goals should be measurable. That is, a person should be able to use a method to ensure that they are making progress.

Goals should be attainable. When goals are perceived as too difficult, then people are less likely to want to strive for them. Goals should be challenging enough to provoke real progress, but not so hard as to appear impossible from the start.

Goals need to be relevant. Relevance refers to the idea that developing one’s social-emotional status is something that is worth doing. Here it’s worth highlighting the benefits of better social-emotional skills, including the ability to form lasting, sustainable relationships, advance faster in a career, or make more progress doing something entrepreneurial.

Finally, goals should be time-based. Time creates pressure to achieve goals sooner rather than later so that they are not put off indefinitely. A time-based social-emotional goal might be to overcome one’s frustrations about something before the end of the year.

Spend Time Reflecting On Goals

Once you and your students have established a set of goals, it’s a good idea to reflect on them. The purpose of reflection is to evaluate whether the goals meet the SMART criteria. An individual may initially believe that their social-emotional goals do conform to the requirements, but following discussion with you and other students, it could turn out that they don’t. Useful goal setting, therefore, requires a degree of reflection and external moderation. Sharing goals helps to improve accountability and develops support between group members. Goals can be a team effort, with mutually-interlocking support structures.

Get ELS courses at your school or district

Recommended Books for Social Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning is fast becoming a bedrock of modern approaches to education. Social-emotional learning books help students develop independence from teachers and caregivers, preparing them for life outside of school in the modern workplace and higher education.

What are some good books for social-emotional learning? Let’s take a look.

Matthew and Tilly by Rebecca C. Jones

When Jones set out to create Matthew and Tilly, her vision was to teach children about the profound benefits of conflict resolution. The story is set around the tale of a black girl called Tilly and a white boy named Matthew. The story begins with Matthew and Tilly playing together happily, but they get into an argument over a crayon. The fight results in both children going their separate ways and trying to play by themselves.

The problem is that they each end up resenting the fact that they are alone. Sure, there’s no need to negotiate with another person, but there’s also less fun when experiencing something alone. The story concludes with the pair making up and agreeing to play together once more; the moral of the story being that it’s worth the effort of negotiating with other people so that everybody can get along.

The Book Of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken

Many people grow up with a “fear of failure.” Thanks to some modern educational practices and pressure from caregivers, children can begin to associate their achievements with their personal value from a young age. Not only is this emotionally unhelpful, but it can also lead people to avoid challenges in the future, should they be revealed as incompetent.

Luyken, therefore, set out to show the positive side of “mistakes” or “failures.” Her book follows the story of people who turned their mistakes into fabulous success, thanks to what they learned early on. Errors can create the inspiration that changes a person’s life. They should be viewed as valuable information and an incentive to change one’s behavior or outlook, not an indication of some personal lack of worth.

I Like Myself by Karen Beaumont

Negative self-talk is a plague on our society, ruining the lives of those who would otherwise be perfectly adequate people. Beaumont set out to create a book which helps foster positive self-talk in children, arresting damaging cycles of rumination that can develop early on in life.

Her story focuses on the notion that we should have a positive attitude towards ourselves, regardless of the opinions of others.

Argyle Fox by Marie Letourneau

Marie Letourneau’s book, Argyle Fox, focuses on the story of a young fox who wants to play games and have fun outside. However, the wind keeps on scuppering his plans, ruining his fun by blowing down his card tower. Letourneau’s purpose in this book is to teach children the value of perseverance and overcoming challenges. Sometimes things in life are hard. A child might feel frustrated, but the way to overcome frustration is to deal with it head-on, figure out what you’re doing wrong, and then make modifications. It’s about experimentation and positive attitudes.

Impact of Social Emotional Learning on Student Achievement 100%

Social and emotional learning is an approach to education that has been growing in popularity, focusing on creating a safe and positive learning environment that fosters an ability to succeed not just in school, but in careers and throughout life.

With schools that are growing more diverse, with students from multicultural backgrounds, different social upbringings, and a range of economic circumstances, it can help children better engage in learning, positive behavior, and social engagement with peers. But what is the impact of social & emotional learning (SEL) on student achievement? Here, we’re going to look at how SEL also provides a positive influence on academic performance.

What is social & emotional learning?

Studies have shown that SEL can help improve academic achievement by 11 percentile points on average, besides improving socially cohesive attributes, such as sharing and empathy and combating mental health issues like stress and anxiety. But how does it do this? Through working with schools, families, and throughout the communities, SEL takes an approach of developing five key skills that can greatly improve the attitudes of students towards schools. The five skills are as follows:

Self-awareness: Understanding of one’s emotions, goals, and values. By assessing our strengths and shortcomings, we can improve our mindsets regarding our own performance, leading to optimism and improved self-esteem

Self-management: When we are more aware of the connections between our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we can better regulate them. Skills like stress management, delaying gratification, and impulse control help students manage their own reactions and keep a positive, productive mindset when faced with challenges, especially in school.

Social awareness: Better understanding social norms in a given context, such as school, family, and the wider community, as well as awareness of support and resources available can help us be more connected to our network, helped with lessons on empathy, compassion, and understanding those in different circumstances.

Relationship skills: With social awareness opens the door to fostering healthier relationships. Building relationship skills like active listening, communication skills, cooperation, and conflict negotiation can help us build a network of more rewarding relationships with peers and teachers.

Responsible decision making: Learning how to make constructive choices when it comes to behavior, interactions, and academic goals. This includes learning now just how to set achievable aims but also to address ethics, safety, and behavioral norms regarding the situation. Better evaluations of actions and consequences can help students stay safe and responsible.

To many of us, these behaviors may seem intuitive. However, they need to be learned and need to be taught. By assuming that all students come to school with these skills already ingrained in them is to put them at an automatic disadvantage compared to their peers. This can lead to major differences in academic achievement between students. How does SEL and the skills mentioned above contribute to achievement in the classroom and beyond?

How SEL contributes directly to achievement

As mentioned, a meta-analysis of schools, parents, and students that have incorporated social & emotional learning practices has shown an average of an 11 percentile point rise in students’ achievement scores. The range of soft skills learned through SEL contribute to this greatly, but one of the primary benefits is the change in attitude towards school. Understanding the importance of responsible decision making in school, being more aware of their own habits and how to control them, and the rewards that come with delayed gratification and better relationships in the school make a direct impact on academic achievement.

Social cohesion and academic success

Better awareness of social norms and appropriate behavior can help prevent students from inappropriate interactions that can sabotage their relationships with peers, teachers, and parents. This can prove a roadblock to the positive relationships that help create better attitudes towards schools and may make it harder to develop productive bonds with teachers, meaning they get less attention in the classroom. SEL can help students get along better with others and can develop the close student-teacher relationships that are a crucial ingredient of academic achievement. These close relationships encourage students to perform better, to embrace challenges, to seek help when they need it. Furthermore, they can lead to outcomes like references when going into further education or the workforce, helping students achieve well beyond the classroom.

Behavioral improvement and achievement

Many a teacher, parent, guardian and even student are aware that behavioral problems can impede achievement. Behavioral infractions in the class can lead to missed school time, actively sabotaging their education. Furthermore, acting inappropriately due to poor impulse control can damage the relationships a student has with their peers and teachers, negatively impacting their attitudes towards school in the long-term. SEL students are overall less aggressive and less disruptive in school, as well as being less likely to have behavior and substance abuse problems before the age of 25.

Mental health and academic success

School can be a stressful time for any student, at any age. Changes in one’s own personality and perspective, as well as a shift in our own social positioning can manifest in many negative ways. Mental health issues like depression, anxiety, stress, and social withdrawal are on the rise, specifically in teenagers and most especially in teenage girls. Students engaged in social & emotional learning show fewer occurrences of these problems across the board. This is due in part to self-management skills like planning, improved attention spans, and the ability to control their own impulses and reflect on their own thoughts. Given how mental health can greatly affect our self-esteem as well as our ability to devote more attention to a task, it should be no surprise these changes can lead to better academic achievement.

Ongoing studies are continuing to prove what those engaged with social & emotional learning have already known for some time. Teaching the skills that often get left behind in the classroom can help even the playing field for a range of students from different cultural, social, and economic backgrounds, making a positive impact on achievement for everyone involved.

The Importance of Relationships in Social Emotional Learning

What is social emotional learning?

What are examples of social emotional skills?

How does social and emotional learning affect schools?

Sadly, the relationship between a children and teachers is often forgotten

Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for High School

What is Social Emotional Learning?

What Social Emotional Learning can teach in High School

How Education Lifeskills delivers Social Emotional Learning

The impact of a Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for High School

  • Better academic performance
  • Improved attitudes and behaviors and an increased commitment to education
  • Less classroom disruption, noncompliance, aggression and delinquency.

Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for Middle School

What is Social Emotional Learning?

What Social Emotional Learning can teach in Middle School

How Education Lifeskills delivers Social Emotional Learning

The impact of a Social Emotional Learning Curriculum for Middle School


Questionnaire Hilda Paredes

Please introduce yourself briefly. What is important for you, musically and otherwise?
I was born in Mexico where I spent the first 21 years of my life. I started studying music in Mexico but I can probably say that I became a composer while living in London. Therefore my music reflects a strong influence of the European musical tradition, although the diverse cultural life of Mexico, has also given me a strong creative impulse. While living in London I became acquainted with Indian music and dance, so many of my decisions concerning ways of manipulating rhythm and structure have been influenced by my interest in the music of India. I have found that many Indian rhythmic procedures can be applied to Western music. However, I do not attempt to quote any traditional music of any country nor to recreate it.
The longer I live away from my country, the more I become aware of my roots. Part of my family is from Yucatan, the Southeast part of Mexico where the Maya culture flourished. My Grandfather spoke fluently the Mayan language and I learnt from him some words and sayings. Through the years I have become more interested and fascinated by the traditions and culture (old and actual) of the Mayan people. These have often been a source of inspiration for my music.

Can one make a living these days solely from composing?
Only if you can live very frugally and if you don't have anybody depending economically from you.
Or if you are extremly successful and can get high commission fees.

How do you compose (approach, duration)?
I always start by trying to imagine the whole piece as it could be when it is finished. Sometimes I can find visual images or poetic metaphors or textures which can help me to conceive the landscape and character of a piece. For me it is important to know what the piece is going to be about. The answer to this question becomes the motor which keeps the creative impulse alive throughout the compositional process.
Often I try to think of all possibilities and limitations that the instruments can offer and I then create a palette of textures. Structure is very important for me and I try to plan it in general terms, from the beginning. Although when it comes to working out details, structure is closely linked to rhythm and harmony in my music, so I often have to make adjustments and change things that I planned in the first draft. I then need to start working out detailed pitch and harmonic material.

To what extent do you use traditional forms?
I don't use traditional forms. By integrating new sounds and creating a new harmonic language, a new syntax opens possibilities for new forms and structures.

How often do you receive commissions, and how do these come about? Do you wait for a commission and then compose the work to fit the criteria, or do you submit a work you have already completed?
I have been very lucky in the past 12 years, most of the music I have written has been commissioned or sponsored in one way or another. I don't know how they come about. I think just musicians have been interested in me writing music for them and I am always happy when this happens.
I have not had to wait for a commission. It usually is the other way around: I have to ask the musicians to give me more time because I am still trying to finish a piece when another one needs to be written.
I like writing a piece for a specific person or group. This gives me encouragement and more personal contact with the players (writing music is a rather lonely job). Therefore I never have submitted a previously written piece when I have been commissioned.

In your opinion what is the lot of a composer today compared with that of one 50 or 150 years ago?
Today there is a great diversity of musical languages, all with new proposals and ideas. I think this makes our time a rather exciting time to be living in. Technology makes many different kinds of music, many from far off cultures very accessible, something that was impossible 50 or 100 years ago. This is also fascinating.
However, we are also living the phenomena of globalization and its attempt to create a market for culture by changing true artistic values for numbers. Before, 50 or 150 years ago there was still talk about how good was a piece of music or what innovations this or that composer was creating. How often do we now hear people talking just about how successful an artist is or how many people went to hear a concert? This is worrying.

What music do you listen to in your free time?
I listen to a cross-section of new music, in particular composers I don't know. I also listen to traditional Indian Music, and also traditional music from different parts of the world and classical music. I often listen to the radio. The BBC plays mostly classical music, but sometimes there is the possibility to hear new things.

What is important in a composer's formal training years?
I think it is important to be able to hear a lot of music and to always be curious about how this music is put together through the study or scores. It is also important to hear your own music, and as well as the confirmation that things work aurally to also be able to learn from your mistakes.

As a composer do you need to continue your education, if so, how?
A composer never ceases to learn. Every piece I write is a new exploration of possibilities and I learn from each one of them. It works like this: you try something new maybe that you are not sure will work. If it does, it's a wonderful surprise and then maybe you can use it again in a different context or develop it further.
It is also possible to continue to learn from other music if your curiosity draws you to it.

What is your opinion of the training offered by the conservatiores or universities?
In my experience, it's what you make of it. I was always very happy to be in an environment where music was in the making all the time, one way or another. At the Guildhall school of Music in London, where I studied, there was a good library with lots of recordings and scores. With the possibility of having my pieces performed, I had the chance of hearing everything I wrote and also have it recorded (no digital techniques in those days, but still, a recording).This enabled me to begin to get my work known. In Mexico the music schools do not have the facilities and resources that their European counterparts have, so for me it was fantastic to have access to all this. I enjoyed being a student in London.

Which particular composers did you concentrate on during your study?
The list is rather long! Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, Gesualdo, Victoria, Composers from the Ars Nova, Schumann, Haydn, Bach, Debussy, Liszt, Brahms, Webern, Schoenberg, Berg, Stavinsky, Ravel, Messiaen, Ligeti, Lutoslawski, Stockhausen, Revueltas, Maxwell Davies, Birtwistle, Carter, etc.

Where do you think New Music stands today? What prospects does New Music have in the future?
The music of our time is a reflection of the times we are living in, as it has always been throughout the history of humanity. It's the music that reflects the creativity of today and it is a response to the society we live in. It is therefore very important to keep it alive by performance and re-performance. Music will continue to be written and hopefully performed as well, as long as there are still sensitive and imaginative people wanting to perform it. The industry of entertainment will not stop people who are truly creative. It might make life very difficult, but I believe there is an audience for our music, an audience of people who are not satisfied with the emptiness that the industry of entertainment often has to offer. There is an audience of people who want to listen to an interesting and challenging music which will also awaken their imagination and senses. I consider myself part of this audience.

In your opinion is New Music today defeated by the laws of the so-called Market?
We are living in a difficult time where often only profitable merchandise seems to have value. All artistic expressions have immeasurable value and this is precisely the problem. How many times have I been asked by people, how do you know when a piece of music is good? It has no label telling you what it is made of, there is no advertisement on the TV telling you how efficient it is....How do you justified investment in New Music when it is so hard to show in numbers how profitable it is?
Art and Music are some of the biggest treasures a culture has and must be kept alive.
Festivals, promoters, musicians and composers, all have a responsibility to keep this music alive. It is ultimately an alternative to the passiveness that the culture of masses' market offers. A society without creativity and imagination is a dead society, so now the big responsibility is to keep it alive.

Many composers state that they do not write for the listening public. What is your view?
I think an audience is made up of many individuals, all with different perceptions for likes and dislikes. It is impossible for me to think of pleasing the audience when I am writing music, but I have an "imaginary listener" who hears everything I write. This listener is often critical. It is for this listener for whom I write.
What happens afterwards, during a performance, is out of my control. I have had many surprises when people tell me they hear things in my music I never thought about before.

What role do the publishing houses and recording companies play in New Music today?
Writing music is a very intense , demanding and solitary experience. It is therefore difficult for a composer to go out and 'promote' what is so close to oneself. Some composers are able to do it, but the world we are living in demands a lot when it comes to promotion of ones own work. How do you make your recently created music known? This is when publishers and record companies can help.

What are your personal perspectives and projects for the future?
After this work I am now finishing for Ensemble Modern, I have to write a piano quintet to be premiered at the Melbourne Festival in October of this year. I also have a project for a music theatre piece based on a story by Isabel Allende, where I also want to include some ancient Mayan spells, which I have set to music before. (A piece I wrote last year for Neue Vocalsolisten, Stuttgart). It is about the way Indian culture has survived in Latin America through 500 years of colonisation and it makes a parallel to the way women have also preserved their identity. It is also about the weakness of power when confronted with love and beauty.

Please describe the piece which the City of Frankfurt and Ensemble Modern has commissioned from you, and your thoughts and reflections on the subject.
It is like a concerto for ensemble, where different instruments coming to the foreground in different sections of the piece. I wrote this piece very much with the players of Ensemble Modern in mind. I have heard the Ensemble often, and knowing some of the players, I wanted to write a piece for specifically for these players. In general this piece has eight distinctive sections with a short 'coda' at the end. In each of these sections, different instruments feature. Only the opening has the whole ensemble playing, which functions like an introduction. This leads to a section where the horn, strings, piano and percussion are the main characters in a rather expressive section. There is a short transition given to the two clarinets and percussion that has a rather humorous and playful idea to lead into the next section. Here the flute introduces the new material and gradually the clarinets and the rest of the ensemble joins in. The English horn, harp, muted strings, piano (inside the strings) and percussion are the main characters in a new expressive section. The trumpet introduces a new rather bright and rhythmic section, later joined by the trombone and horn. Here there are some contrasting ideas which interrupt each other. This resolves by the whole ensemble playing quite frantically before we reach the transition to the closing section of the piece. This transition is played by the bassoon, double bass and percussion made out of transformed material played before by the clarinets (also a transition). The last section is played by the trombone, timpani, strings and piano. I have applied some techniques I have developed over the years, some inspired in the rhythmic structures of the music of India. Whilst writing this piece I became acquainted with the ways the Mayas used to measured time. This gave me some ideas to apply to music, so in some of the metric and pitch decisions, the number 13 is quite important (13 is also a number in the fibonacci series). The Mayas had 13 days and 20 different names for them and overlapped them in cycles. In this work, I have explore new possibilities which I hope to continue working on in the future.


By Tony Perkins President

Tony Perkins is President of Family Research Council. This article appeared on on August 25, 2019.

As a former police officer, this perspective on gun violence is not an academic approach. I’ve encountered armed suspects and dealt with gun-related violence. I’ve lost friends, gunned down in the line of duty. I have a full appreciation of the stress that families of law enforcement officers endure each day as their father, mother, son, or daughter head out to protect their neighbors and communities.

As president of the Family Research Council, I also saw gun violence from another perspective – as a target of hate. Our organization in Washington D.C. was attacked by a now convicted, domestic terrorist. Inspired by a leftist organization, Floyd Lee Corkins came into our offices with 100 rounds of ammunition and began firing, critically wounding one of our team members.

Yet the growing frequency and scale of such armed atrocities are symptomatic of a much deeper crisis, fomenting for decades. It is dishonest and self-serving of politicians who claim that this crisis is the result of statements made by President Donald Trump about securing our southern border. How would they explain the mass shootings that took place in Orlando, Sandy Hook, San Bernardino or Aurora during the Obama administration?

While policies may have an impact on this issue, unfortunately the debate never gets beyond the stalemate over "gun control." Though an ardent supporter of the Second Amendment, I am willing to talk about laws regarding the ownership and use of guns by those who should not have them. But the missing component to this discussion playing on an endless political loop is the impact of the moral vacuum created by eliminating values, faith and civility from the public square.

Restricting the implements of violence while ignoring the causes is futile. Our nation's capital, with some of the most restrictive gun-ownership laws in the country, clearly illustrates this point. Washington has a gun murder rate of 18 per 100,000, and the city's gun-control laws did not protect our organization. Nationwide, as many as 80 percent of gun-related crime involves illegal guns.

And do laws blocking gun ownership stop murder? The United Kingdom, which already has strict laws on the ownership of guns, began restricting the sale and possession of knives over three inches long after a rash of episodes of knife violence last year. The focus on tools still misses the greater problem.

A deadly game with life-and-death stakes plays out in all cultures when violent people choose to act against their fellow citizens. Rock, paper, scissors, machete, rope, knife, gun – the instruments chosen are secondary to the reasons people strike out.

As Jesus observed in Matthew 15:19, from the human heart comes murder. To talk about the "why" and not just the "how," requires we go beyond external, environmental factors to focus on the internal aspect of morality.  And we can't have an honest discussion about morality without including religion.

Our nation’s founders understood the importance of faith and morality working hand in hand in our republic to restrain the worst of our human nature. George Washington in his farewell address at the end of his second term as president included several pieces of advice for preserving America's prosperity, security and happiness.

Washington was not alone in this conviction. John Adams, the second president of the United States, recognized the limitations of our laws. In speaking to the Massachusetts militia, Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Some will be quick to say that nearly 250 years later, America has moved beyond the faith that inspired nation builders. That is a tragedy. Today our culture increasingly marginalizes public faith and religion, pushing it from the public square. But in the process, we've lost public morality, common decency and virtue, which are essential to freedom.

To achieve security for our families and communities while preserving the freedom that has made America great, we have only one option: Restore morality by renewing our commitment to the free exercise of religion. In other words, we should protect, not prevent, religious freedom.

Our baser nature clearly is not changed by passing more laws. The promises of security through more government restrictions will only serve to erode our freedoms while providing little protection. Rather, the solution to the gun violence plaguing our nation will be found in a willingness to recognize, as did the Founders, that as a people we are dependent upon and accountable to an omniscient God.  It is only from such an understanding that morality and public virtue become commonplace, which is essential for freedom.

As Americans, we must carefully consider the path we take in addressing this present and growing crisis. New gun laws never achieve what a commitment to the Golden Rule can accomplish. America will be safer if all of us do unto others as we want them to do unto us.


Opening Titles 04.10.19

Our title sequence for the current Sky One drama, ’Temple’ featuring Mark Strong and Daniel Mays. Playing with the visual narrative of descent, the sequence follows the protagonist as he travels deeper and deeper into a dark and unexpected underworld. The sequence was conceived, designed and produced at Hingston Studio for Hera Pictures. Score by Matthew Herbert.


December 10, 2019

The United States Has the World’s Fastest Supercomputer Again

The newly-completed Summit supercomputer is specifically designed to run artificial intelligence software. The United States has been falling behind when...

Remove Weird Smells From Any Camera the Easy Way

So you did the smart thing and bought a used DSLR instead of a new one — thus saving you hundreds of dollars —...


Acupuncture & Anxiety: How can acupuncture reduce anxiety & improve wellbeing?

September 2, 2017

Acupuncture and Anxiety: How can acupuncture reduce anxiety and improve wellbeing?

Anxiety is often a natural response to stressful situations but for 40 million US adults, or 18% of the US population, anxiety becomes more than just a transitory experience; it becomes an entrenched dysfunctional emotional response. One in eight children are affected by anxiety disorders. It’s estimated that 80% of children go untreated for their anxiety and only 50% of adults receive treatment. Anxiety disorders include: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety, PTDS, and OCD. Anxiety disorder is often concurrent with depression, chronic pain, eating disorder, body dysmorphia and sleep disorders. The underlying cause of anxiety disorder may be genetics, trauma, stress, brain chemistry, substance abuse, other medical conditions and often a combination of these. (

Those with anxiety disorders are two to six times more likely to visit medical doctors for other health related reasons. Western medicine is finally beginning to recognize the connection between emotions and physical illnesses but more often than not people with anxiety disorders are seeing multiple doctors for all their different symptoms and taking a handful of pills to manage multiple symptoms. ( For over 2,000 years Oriental Medicine theory(OM), also known as Eastern Medicine or TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine), the guiding theory of acupuncture and acupressure has taught that the internal cause of most physical illnesses have their origin in an emotional imbalance and the reverse: that a physical imbalance can in turn lead to an emotional imbalance.

How does acupressure and acupuncture work to resolve and prevent anxiety? Several biochemical explanations have been revealed by recent research. Anxiety is associated with an activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis (Tsigos, 2002). The HPA axis is how our brain and endocrine system interact to modulate the stress response. Recent studies indicate that acupuncture decreases and moderates the activation of the the HPA axis thereby decreasing the effects of stress, including the experience of anxiety (Eshkevari, 2013). Anxiety is also associated with low vagal tone (vagus nerve) which leads to low dopamine levels.

In OM, anxiety is associated with the Heart and ‘houses’ the Spirit-Mind, called the Shen. The Heart is associated with the element of Fire. The Heart is also considered the Emperor or Empress, the supreme, benevolent ruler of the body. When the Heart is at peace then the Mind (Shen) is calm and the body is in harmony.

Consider this East-West integrative way of understanding anxiety by drawing connections between the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the function of the Heart & Kidney in OM. The hypothalamus among other things regulates heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and sleep cycles paralleling many of the functions OM ascribes to the heart. The pituitary gland is often called the Master gland of the endocrine system regulating all the other endocrine glands in the body, similar to the Heart’s role as the Emperor of the body. The adrenal glands are situated on top of the Kidneys: in OM the kidneys and adrenals are associated with the element of Water. Emotional and physical wellbeing rely on a balance of Yin (Water) and Yang (Fire) is essential for a calm Shen.

Self Acupressure Routine for Quelling Anxiety

One of the best acu-points to calm the heart and reduce anxiety and increase melatonin production (improving sleep cycles) is Ht7 (Spence 2004). H7 is located  on the wrist crease above the pinkie finger . Place gentle pressure here, you’ll feel a pulse. Hold this point and take long, slow, full deep breaths.

At the same time you’re holding Ht7 you can place your feet on on the floor stimulating the acupoint Ki1 with a small ball or marble. Ki1 is located below the ball of the foot between the 2nd and 3rd toe.

 Visualize water in the lower half of your body and fire in the upper half or focus on the sensation of temperature: feeling heat in the upper half and coolness in the lower half. And as you breathe and hold the acu-points feel the sensation of coolness balancing the heat, or water rising up to meet the fire and fire dropping down meet the water. Bringing your Fire and Water in to balance to calm your Shen-mind.

The vagus nerve is the 10th cranial nerve and it interacts with the heart, lungs, esophagus, digestive tract, adrenals and the uterus. This helps explain why those with anxiety often have multiple health symptoms. Acupuncture has been shown to improve vagal tone, which helps improve health symptoms in related organs while naturally stimulating higher dopamine levels (Torres-Rosas, 2014). The acupuncture point most often utilized in these studies is St36, ZuSanLi. Try doing acupressure at this point: Locate St36 by placing one hand just below the outer knee cap (index finger by the knee cap), use your other hand to find St 36 (just below your pinkie finger) just off the outer shin.

In OM, what brings the heart out of balance is ‘over-joy’; in essence this refers to being overly stimulated and overly excited. In a culture where ‘the pursuit of happiness’ and pleasure is a social value, where we are constantly entangled with technology and media, especially social media, and where FOMO (fear of missing out) has become common enough to receive its own acronym - its easy to understand how ‘over-joy’ can lead to a state of perpetual anxiety. To cultivate a serene mind and calm your inner Empress/Emperor develop a moving mediation practice such as yoga, Qi Gong or Tai Chi, or taking long, mediative walks. Resolve to do a tech/media ‘cleanse’ and disengage from technology and media for short, therapeutic doses (15-60 min per day) and build up to longer and longer periods away (1-3 days). Spend time with less ‘going on’ around you. Reducing your overall sensory stimulation can help you cultivate a calmer Shen.

Try herbs for anxiety! A licensed acupuncturist and herbalist can help you discover your OM pattern and provide you with a perfect herbal formula to quell your anxiety and calm your mind and body.

Come try Acupuncture & herbal medicine for anxiety @ Yin Rising Acupuncture!

Bergland, Christopher, Feb. 02, 2013, The Neurobiology of Grace Under Pressure: 8 Habits that Stimulate your vagus Nerve and Keep You Calm, Cool, and Collected

Eshkevari, L., Permaul, E., & Mulroney, S. E. (2013). Acupuncture blocks cold stress-induced increases in the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis in the rat. Journal of Endocrinology, 217(1), 95-104.

Spence, D. W., Kayumov, L., Chen, A., Lowe, A., Jain, U., Katzman, M. A., ... & Shapiro, C. M. (2004). Acupuncture increases nocturnal melatonin secretion and reduces insomnia and anxiety: a preliminary report. The Journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences.

Stix, Gary, May 1, 2014, Can Acupuncture Curb Killer Immune Reactions? A Needle-Based Technique has been shown to switch on naves that tamp down sepsis,

Torres-Rosas, R., Yehia, G., Peña, G., Mishra, P., del Rocio Thompson-Bonilla, M., Moreno-Eutimio, M. A., ... & Ulloa, L. (2014). Dopamine mediates vagal modulation of the immune system by electroacupuncture. Nature medicine, 20(3), 291-295.

Tsigos, C., & Chrousos, G. P. (2002). Hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, neuroendocrine factors and stress. Journal of psychosomatic research, 53(4), 865-871.

Please reload

Recent Articles
Please reload

Yin Rising Acupuncture

2129 East Warner Road, Suite 104

Tempe, AZ 85284

  • Facebook Classic
  • Twitter Classic

© 2016 Yin Rising


In an official document dated late July, the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions, the city’s branch of the country’s official, Party-affiliated trade union, outlined the major themes of its work going forward, including preventing “enemy infiltration” alongside its work in managing foreign NGOs. The document’s articles discussing foreign NGOs strongly suggest that international organizations, at least in the labor sector, are viewed primarily as a national security, rather than a civil society, issue. Though the...Read more

What Does Charity Mean in China?

Despite the Charity Law’s Definition, the Answer Is Still Elusive
China’s Charity Law effectually governs a broad universe of non-profits while refusing to define essential terms. And, of course, organizations the government regards as sensitive—including some religious, political, human rights, and other independent associations of particular segments of civil society—will not be permitted to register despite likely compliance with the law. But what does it mean, under the Charity Law, for an activity to be “charitable”? Though the Charity Law for the first time provides...Read more

Chinese Partner Units: Who (and Where) Are They?

When considering the impact of the Foreign NGO Law, we often think first of the foreign NGOs themselves—who they are, and where they’re able to gain approval to carry out work in China. Yet, for foreign NGOs carrying out temporary activities in China, Chinese Partner Units (CPUs) are critical players whose organizational structure, location, and capacity affect what activities will be possible. Notably, it is CPUs, and not foreign NGOs, that actually submit temporary activity...Read more
How common is it for a temporary activity to cover multiple provinces? Are some provincial Public Security Bureaus (PSBs) more likely to allow cross-provincial activities than others? How many of all the temporary activities are just being done by a few big organizations? Are we seeing a drop-off in organizations filing for temporary activities, or in organizations deciding not to come back after holding one or two? Are groups able to successfully “renew” their year-long...Read more
Establishing operations in Taiwan wasn’t the most logical option for international organizations whose missions demanded they be on the ground to engage with the challenging but dynamic “wild west” of civil society work in the P.R.C. Could the Foreign NGO Law alter this status quo?Read more


“Putin arms race thing”

RORY (while reading Lorelai’s newspaper veil): Wait, don’t move.
LORELAI: Rory, stop it.
RORY: This Putin arms race thing is really getting crazy.

In June 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that the Bush administration’s proposed national missile defence system could trigger an arms race, as he had no option but to upgrade his own country’s nuclear forces. In real life, this was reported on June 18 2001, which is later than it appears to be in this episode, as Lorelai’s June 21 engagement party is still some time away.

Ivana Trump

LORELAI: Wow, hope she’s not kosher.
BOOTSY: I don’t know, doesn’t say here.

“Peace out, Humphrey”

EMILY: Everyone’s awfully quiet tonight.
LORELAI: Sorry Mom, I’m just tired.
RORY: Me too – school.
RORY: Life.
LORELAI: Dig it, man.
RORY: Peace out, Humphrey.

Palestinian and Israeli Families

LORELAI: Why were you in the Mideast?
RACHEL: I was doing a photo story on how Palestinian and Israeli families have been affected by the violence.

From this statement, we know that Rachel’s trip to the Middle East was specifically to Israel and the Palestinian territories of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

In 1948 the Jewish Agency declared the independence of the state of Israel, immediately followed by the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which saw Israel established while the West Bank and Gaza were held by Arab states. Since the Six-Day War of 1967, Israel has occupied territories such as the West Bank, Gaza, and Golan Heights.

It is the world’s longest military occupation in modern times, with no peace agreement in sight. The violence of the conflict is well known around the world, and casualties extend to civilians as well as the military. Most of the casualties have been Palestinian.

President Bush

LORELAI: I hate President Bush … He’s stupid and his face is too tiny for his head and I just want to toss him out.

Lorelai is talking about George W. Bush (born 1946), who had been elected President of the United States in November 2000, and sworn in on January 20 2001, less than two months previously from Lorelai’s perspective. He is the son of George H.W. Bush, who was US President from 1989 to 1993. Like so many famous people referenced in the show, George W. Bush has a Connecticut connection, being born in New Haven: he also attended both Yale and Harvard.

Lorelai’s perception of George W. Bush as “stupid” was one shared by many people, due to his frequent lapses of grammar, mangled sentences, and baffling statements. Polls showed that American voters saw him as having a low intelligence. Historians rate his presidency quite poorly, although his popularity has picked up since he left office in 2009.

It was rare for Gilmore Girls to stray far into politics, so this was an unusual moment which identified Lorelai as a Democrat. She was clearly desperate to get attention away from Rory, and her plan worked. Impulsive as ever, Lorelai didn’t stop to think whether her comment was going to make the evening easier. It didn’t help things.

“You run directly for president”

LANE: We’ll tell her [Lorelai] that we’re meeting Dean for a movie, and then we go to the movie, and then somebody who just happens to be a friend of Dean’s just happens to be there for the same movie, and so we figure that it would be completely rude for us to not ask said person to come sit with us.
RORY: I say to hell with governor, you run directly for president.
LANE: It’s not that bad.

Many US Presidents have been Governor of their state before making the run for the White House, including George W. Bush, former Governor of Texas, who had only recently (from Rory’s perspective) been sworn in as President, on January 20 2001.

In 2001, the last US President to run for President without standing as a state Governor was George Bush Sr. [pictured], who was a Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, Ambassador to China, then Director of Central Intelligence before his successful presidential campaign in 1988 (sworn in 1989).

Rory is saying that Lane’s lying is on a scale that only a politician at the highest level could come up with. Lane understandably tries to downplay that one.

Baked Alaska

LORELAI: Oh! Meringue.
SOOKIE: Yeah, I thought I’d do a variation on a baked Alaska for dessert tonight.

Baked Alaska is a classic American dessert consisting of ice cream in a dish or baking tray which is lined with cake, then the whole thing covered in meringue and quickly browned in the oven. The ice cream won’t melt as the meringue protects it, and the oven is very hot so that cooking time is brief.

According to legend President Thomas Jefferson, earlier mentioned, was the first person to serve Baked Alaska, in 1802. He served a dessert which was warm ice cream in a pastry shell, so not really the same, but shows that the idea of baking ice cream had been around a fair while – and a presidential connection is always a cool thing to have.

The famous Delmenico’s Restaurant in New York City claimed that their chef Charles Ranhofer named the dessert to mark America’s purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. The actual dish was probably created some time after the purchase, and Ranhofer called his dessert “Alaska, Florida” to indicate the extremes of heat and cold in the dessert. He published the recipe in 1893.

The first known published recipe for something resembling Baked Alaska is in Mary J.B. Lincoln’s Frozen Dainties in 1888. It seems to be much the same as the modern dish and she calls the dessert Ice-cream en Deguiser (“ice cream dressed up”). Lincoln was the first principal of the Boston Cooking School, so the dish has a distinguished pedigree.


star formation

Also found in: Wikipedia.

star formation

(stellar birth) Stars are formed by the gravitational collapse of cool dense (109–1010 atoms per cubic meter) gas and dust clouds. Most are born in giant molecular clouds; a few lower-mass stars condense from smaller molecular clouds and Bok globules. There are problems, however, in initiating the collapse of a gas cloud. It resists collapse because of firstly its internal motions and the heating effects of nearby stars, secondly the centrifugal support due to rotation, and thirdly the magnetic field pressure. In a massive dense cloud shielded by dust, it is believed that collapse can be triggered when the cloud is slowed on passing through the spiral density-wave pattern of our Galaxy (see densiry-wave theory): it is noticeable that star formation preferentially occurs along spiral arms. Alternatively compression may be caused by a shock wave propagated by a nearby supernova explosion – which may explain how stars are formed in galaxies without spiral arms or with only patchy spiral arms.

Once collapse starts, instabilities cause the cloud to divide into successively smaller fragments of about the Jeans mass (see gravitational instability). At first, radiation can escape freely but eventually, when the cloud becomes dense enough, the opacity increases and the temperature rises, at which point fragmentation ceases. These final fragments are protostars, which now collapse individually. This collapse is gentle at first but after some hundred thousand years (for a star of one solar mass) the density and temperature rise sharply at the center, forming a hot core that will be the future nucleus of the star. Theoretical models show that the protostar will contract along the Hayashi track in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. The slow contraction heats the core to a temperature of 10 million kelvin, which is sufficient to initiate nuclear fusion reactions in hydrogen. Once the nuclear energy source is established, the contraction is halted and the star joins the main sequence.

Infrared and radio observations of star-formation regions are now filling out the theory. The infrared satellite IRAS found many small infrared sources within molecular clouds and Bok globules. Most are probably young stars still cocooned in dust, but a few may be true protostars. Molecular-line radio astronomy has revealed the gas motions in regions of star formation. Predicted infall velocities are very low and are often masked by random motions in the gas. Despite this, infall has now possibly been detected in a few cases. In addition, surprisingly high velocity gas has been revealed near the young stars at the center, forming two oppositely directed beams – bipolar outflows – from the massive young stars. These outflows must affect star formation in the cloud, either disrupting protostars or promoting their formation by compressing the surrounding gas. Young stars are often surrounded by disks of dense gas and dust. The disks are apparently more common among single stars than in multiple-star systems, and may be the precursors of planetary systems. The gas in the disk may be spiraling inward and increasing the star's mass substantially, after hydrogen fusion begins. The effects of bipolar outflows and late accretion from a surrounding disk have yet to be incorporated into theoretical models; they may alter quite substantially the simple theory given above.

Although stars in small molecular clouds and Bok globules are often single, most stars form in dense clusters. Such clusters also contain compact gas clumps that emit powerful maser radiation from water molecules (see maser source).

The young stars gradually dissipate the surrounding gas cloud by the effects of heating, radiation pressure, and the gas outflows. The latter often break through first, indicating the presence of the star by an optical bipolar nebula or a string of Herbig–Haro objects. When massive O and B stars are present, they light up the residual gas as an H II region. The massive stars take the shortest time to form, 100 000 years or less, and are normal main-sequence stars by the time they become visible. Less-massive stars are seen while they are still contracting and have appreciable amounts of surrounding gas and dust: these pre-main-sequence stars appear as Be, Ae, and T Tauri stars. A star like the Sun takes 50 million years to reach the main sequence.

References in periodicals archive ?
The supermassive black hole at the center of jellyfish galaxy JO201 is stripping away gas and throwing it out into space, accelerating suppression of star formation and effectively 'killing' the galaxy.
The orange-pink glow seen in the image is hydrogen gas, a key ingredient in star formation, reacting to intense light that streams outward from the newborn stars.
Physical processes that play a key role in driving galaxy formation and evolution, such as star formation and stellar feedback, and super massive black hole formation, accretion and feedback, take place on extremely small, sub-galactic scales.
A NEW METHOD OF MEASURING star formation in four galaxies in the early universe finds that they're producing more massive stars than expected.
Observations have previously detected cold gas, dust, and even new/residual star formation in elliptical galaxies [2-5].
The stripping of gas is thought to have a significant effect on the galaxy's development, removing cold gas from the galaxy, shutting down the formation of new stars in the galaxy, and changing the appearance of inner spiral arms and bulges because of the effects of star formation.
Infrared Dark Clouds (IRDC) are dense, cold molecular clouds that are likely to host massive star formation due to their physical and chemical properties.
A transition might happen around z=1 as the cosmic star formation rate starts its decrease.
Galaxy wars; stellar populations and star formation in interacting galaxies; proceedings.
High rates of star formation are common among some remote galaxies, which hail from the early universe, but the Green Peas are relatively nearby--between 1.5 billion and 5 billion light-years from Earth.


Toad World® Forums

Grid sorting on number values

Toad x64.

When display grids should be aware to sort display on numbers like numbers and not like strings. I.E “9” is before “2000”…and so on.

There are all around this problem. So is there any estimation when to fix that.

When you run queries with F5, the data is stored internally as a string, so sorting will be as a string. If you want Oracle to sort your queries, run with F9 (which is more efficient anyway) or include an “Order by” clause.

Hi John,

sounds good when you have ability to have influence…but in Session browser all grid data I have no influence at all.

But thx for the tip with F9.

Oh, Session Browser, OK. Which grid, and which column in that grid of the Session Browser are you clicking on? We try to mimic the same data types as Oracle in these grids, but maybe one of them is off.


The joy of creating star trails

I have longed to try my hand at star trails for many years, and for one reason or another there would always be an excuse as to why I didn’t try it. Finally, all the factors came together to allow me to give it a proper go. With star trail photography you 100% have to know what you’re doing, I say this because if you’re ‘experimenting’ and don’t fully understand the factors involved then more than likely you will waste many hours getting cold in the dark and come back with nothing!

There are numerous tutorials out there which are comprehensive and will help you understand the fundamentals. One article I would definitely recommend is by Floris Van Breugel.

This blog is going to breeze over the general set up and workflow of putting together star trails. Just to make it clear I am not an expert astrophotographer but if you want to create an image similar to the one above then this might be helpful. So lets get started!

As I mentioned before, preparation is key to getting really rewarding results. I really recommend you read the article above and also do some things which can really make your life easier – such as the brilliant Star Chart app for your smart phone or tablet. This app gives you a map of the starts, which is particularly helpful if you know nothing about the stars (like me) and want to find polaris, the north star (if you’re in the northern hemisphere). The reason why you want to find polaris is that it is the centre point for the stars rotation, so effectively the stars are rotating around it.

Camera (obviously), preferably one that is compatible with a remote which has an intervalometer built in, or use a camera like the X-T1 which has one built in. An intervalometer is a device that can control your camera to take pictures at set intervals for a set number of photos and sometimes for a set duration. This is VERY helpful as it means that you can set up your shot and leave your camera to take all the photos for the duration of the shoot without any further input from yourself. From there you’ll usually want to use a wide-angle lens to capture as much of the sky as possible. Finally you need a sturdy platform to leave your camera, more often than not a good tripod (however I have managed to produce some shots using a gorilla pod too!).

The composition I chose. Note that taking long exposures after sunset using Velvia can produce some incredible colours!

Hopefully you have found a suitable location, ideally with little light pollution, on a relatively clear night (with a good forecast). Foreground is what makes a star trail photo different from all the other star trails, so really think about you composition and how you want the star rotation to affect your photo, whether you want to have polaris in the picture to have a centre point for the stars to move around, or whether you want to shoot away from polaris to exaggerate the star movements.

This wants to be done all before sunset happens. Choose your location, frame your image and then don’t change it, leave it on the tripod! Over the next hour or so take a selection of sunset photos, preferably with F8/11 to give you a large depth of field, which you won’t be able to shoot later. If you really want to cover all the bases then you can do some bracketing to make sure you have every part of your composition correctly exposed.

Star test
This is a 5 minute exposure I did to make sure I was happy with my composition. You can start to see the movement of the stars, particularly those furthest from polaris (just above the horizon a third of the way in from the left).

As the stars start to come out you can then set up your camera for star photography. I used an X-T1 and a XF10-24mm F4 OIS for the top photo. I set it up to shoot a series of 30 second exposures at F4, ISO1600. 30 seconds is the longest that you can run with the built in intervalometer, ideally you would shoot longer exposures so you didn’t have so many photos to merge later, but this is often the easiest way.

A screen grab showing the first star-focused image. the sky still has colour but the stars are clear.

A few hours later and I stopped the camera and downloaded the shots.

Post production

This is where it gets quite interesting and fun, now that you have the shots you can experiment to see what works best for you. I downloaded all the images into Lightroom and selected all of the star-focused images and ran a preset on them which boosted the highlights to make the stars brighter. This helps to make the star trails that much brighter. Don’t worry about the rest of the content in the star images as this will be replaced by the earlier landscape image. Once the images were all ready to be blended together, I exported them as high resolution jpegs.

I then opened Photoshop and used a script made by Floris Van Breugel which you can find here. Go to File -> Scripts -> browse -> select the script (I used the flat version instead of the layered version as my computer couldn’t cope with the layered version!), then select the folder where you’ve exported the star images. These must be named in a sequence e.g. star image 1.. The script effectively blends the images together taking the brightest part of all of the images and bringing it forward. What you will end up with is something like this.

The complete star trail before editing to remove the ambient lights.
The complete star trail before editing to remove the ambient lights.
The mask layer button is the third on the bottom.
The mask layer button is the third on the bottom.

Notice that there is some ambient light, the lights on the water are from fishing boats and the green glow is from a few houses on the other side of the headland. To remove these lights I opened up the original landscape photo shown earlier on. I copied the original file (background) and placed it above the inserted landscape photo. Using a mask layer I then removed the lights using the brush tool which acts like a non-destructive eraser making the landscape photo come out above the background copy (I really hope this makes sense!). You can adjust how effective this is by adjusting the opacity of the brush, this is helpful when removing light pollution in the sky.

Opening up the files in Photoshop.
Opening up the files in Photoshop. With a bit of work you can produce a pretty rewarding image.

I hope that made sense and that you’ll go out and try your hand at star trail photography. If you manage any star trails then share them with us.

You can keep up to date with my latest work via the following links: Facebook, Instagram, twitter, Website.


Sidewalk facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Pavement redirects here. For the American rock band, see Pavement (band).
A pavement (UK), sidewalk (CA, US), or footpath (AU, IE, IN, NZ).

A sidewalk is a path for pedestrians that runs along the side of a road. It is called a sidewalk in American English, but can also be called a pavement (mainly British English), a footpath (Australian English, Irish English, Indian English and New Zealand English) or footway (Engineering term).

Pedestrians use sidewalks to keep them safe from vehicles on the road. Sidewalks can be made of bricks or from tarmac.

Images for kids

Sidewalk Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.


Dear Edwina

Students are preparing audition materials for their up and coming production of “Dear Edwina”. Please click the following links to access their practice track and script page. Hard copies will be given during class.

Audition Vocal Track

Audition Script

Please check back in for more information and details to come!


Together, we make a difference.

FAQs for the New Regional Healthcare Campus

Frequently Asked Questions

By early 2023, the Central New York region will be home to the newest hospital in New York State. The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) is working with community partners to build a new, integrated hospital and healthcare campus in Downtown Utica. Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions.

1. Why do we need a new hospital?

While both of the existing hospital campuses have been modernized over time, their physical plants are aging (St. Luke’s is over 60 years old and St. Elizabeth is over 100) and are limited in their ability to accommodate modern equipment and technology and adapt to changing models of patient care. New state initiatives for transforming healthcare in New York provided, first, the impetus to explore the possibility of a new hospital in Central New York and then the funding to make this a reality. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for advancing healthcare in this region, not only for today but for generations to come.

2. Will the hospital really get built?

Yes. After nearly four years of planning and approvals, the construction of the new hospital is moving forward with an anticipated “move in” date of February 2023.

3. What will be the name of the new hospital?

Currently, we are calling it the Mohawk Valley Medical Center but that may change before the hospital opens.

4. What services or programs will not be moving to the new hospital?

The Center for Rehabilitation and Continuing Care Services (CRCCS), and the services provided within, will remain at its location on Champlin Avenue. Additionally, the St. Elizabeth College of Nursing and Marian Medical Professional Building will remain on the St. Elizabeth Campus. It is also anticipated that the services at the Faxton Campus, including the Cancer Center, Urgent Care, Outpatient Rehabilitation, etc. will remain at that campus.

5. What will happen to the existing hospital campus buildings?

MVHS is contracting with CHA Consulting, Inc., an engineering consulting firm, to help us with a comprehensive evaluation of the potential repurposing of the current facilities. In order to ensure a comprehensive evaluation, the repurposing project will look at the potential reuse of the three main MVHS campuses: St. Luke’s, St. Elizabeth and Faxton. Based on prior assessments, MVHS previously stated it is likely the Faxton Campus will remain open; however Faxton was included in the study to ensure that keeping the campus open is the proper course of action. This study will be underway by March 2019. It’s important to note that other hospitals that have relocated to new campuses have repurposed their old buildings as schools, government office buildings and townhouses or condos.

6. Will physician offices be moved to Downtown Utica?

Part of the plan of the hospital/healthcare campus in downtown Utica is to establish a Medical Office Building across from the hospital. This will provide office space for many of the MVHS-employed physicians as well as other physicians that may be interested in leasing space. It is also anticipated that over the course of time, additional medical office space would be developed in the downtown area.Part of the plan of the hospital/healthcare campus in downtown Utica is to establish a Medical Office Building across from the hospital. This will provide office space for many of the MVHS-employed physicians as well as other physicians that may be interested in leasing space. It is also anticipated that over the course of time, additional medical office space would be developed in the downtown area.

7. Will I have a job when the new hospital opens?

Yes, we are working to ensure that our employees maintain their jobs through a comprehensive process of planning between now and when the new hospital opens. The new hospital will be the most successful if it’s staffed by qualified, experienced, dedicated employees and that’s our goal. A specific staffing plan is presently under development and will be shared with staff when completed. Right now we have many, many job openings and believe that will continue to be the case. If an existing job will not be available in the new hospital, we will help to find another position for an MVHS employee.

8. Will I have to reapply for my job?

It is not our intent that our employees will have to reapply for their jobs. The amount of additional work that would take makes such a process prohibitive.

9. Will salaries and benefits change when we move to the new hospital?

It is not our intent that our employees will have to reapply for their jobs. The amount of additional work that would take makes such a process prohibitive.The new hospital will not impact non-union employees’ salaries and benefits. In fact, our goal today and for the future with the new hospital is to ensure that we have and maintain competitive salaries and benefits for our employees. For those that are members of a union, this will be determined by the unions through collective bargaining agreements.

10. Which unions will be in the new hospital?

We don’t know this yet. This is something that the unions, working in conjunction with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), will have to work out. Our goal is to have a committed, experienced workforce so we can provide the best care anywhere!

11. Who will be the management staff at the new hospital and how will they
be selected?

It is anticipated that existing leadership will transition into the new facility in the same role. In the areas where there might be two positions now, we will develop and communicate a fair process that results in the selection of leader one year before we move into the new hospital. We have a lot of work to do now as we continue to operate our two acute care hospitals.

12. Will there be enough bathrooms, cafeteria space, locker rooms and break rooms?

This is a current topic of conversation as people are reviewing areas and spaces as the building takes shape. We are working closely with experts in space planning to make sure we can accommodate our needs.

13. Is there space for expansion?

Yes, the design takes into consideration expansion within the footprint of the hospital. Spaces are being designed with future expansion, if necessary, in mind. In addition, the placement of the building on the property footprint takes into consideration building expansion if that becomes necessary.

14. Where will be space to park?

There will be a 1,500 space parking garage located across the street from the hospital. This garage is being built through a partnership with Oneida County and the City of Utica. (And, note the rumors that this garage is being built for a future casino are not true.) There are also multiple surface parking lots planned. Parking assignments will occur as plans are finalized.

15. Once we’re merged into one campus, will we maintain the Catholic heritage of St. Elizabeth Medical Center?

The new hospital will be secular. It will be, as is MVHS, a place for all faiths to worship as they desire. There will be a new, very beautiful chapel that will accommodate all faiths and religions.

16. We now work on two different campuses, how will we transition to working together on one campus?

There is a lot of work ahead on this very issue. The goal is to bring the best of both hospitals into a single culture. This will take time and effort. We are just now talking about how to facilitate a process that will result in developing the best culture to support the best patient care possible. More to come on this.

17. What exactly is eminent domain and why is it happening?

Eminent domain is a legal process in which the government or its agencies can take private property (with reimbursement, of course) for the public good. Let’s separate the two building projects downtown: the hospital and the parking garage. As for the footprint under the hospital, all but three properties have negotiated agreements with MVHS. The remaining three are under active negotiations. That’s positive. We’ve been working with those building owners and local government to assist in securing new properties. In fact, some have already moved into new buildings. MVHS cannot exercise eminent domain. If that were to become an issue for the property involving the hospital site, the City of Utica would be responsible. As for the land under the parking garage, several properties have negotiated sales terms, but there are a few hold outs that have indicated they will not sell. In that case, the Oneida County government has the authority to exercise eminent domain.

Examples of when eminent domain would come into play would be to make way for a road or public park, or to provide housing for disadvantaged persons – or in this case, to make way for a new healthcare resource in Utica. The United States and New York Constitutions requires that owners are paid fair compensation their property is taken through eminent domain.

18. Will the new hospital create traffic problems in Downtown Utica?

That question has been asked a lot. The answer is no. First, the work being done on the highway system and the roads supporting downtown Utica are being designed with the new hospital in mind. Secondly, DOT has been involved all along and conducted exhaustive studies. The hospital area will require some specific modifications to turn lanes to accommodate hospital traffic.

19. Can the fire department handle the size of the new hospital?

Yes. The hospital, at nine stories tall, would not be the tallest/largest structure in the City.

20. What happens if we find something “buried” under the site?

This is all part of the State Environmental Quality Review (SEQR) process that is in its final stages. If hazardous materials are identified, we will clean up the sites. If historical archives are found, we will work with the appropriate agencies to determine what needs to be done.

21. Will elderly people from the suburbs come to Downtown Utica?

Most elderly individuals who seek care at a hospital are driven to the facility by a caregiver, family member or friend. Those who are driving someone to the hospital will find that it will be quite an easy trip. They will be able to pull right up to the hospital, drop the patient off, and then head to the garage to park. We do understand, however, that we will need to ensure that our communities, our employees and our patients are familiar with the quickest route to the hospital and will do mailings and other supportive education to ensure we get off to a good start. Signage will be very important as well.

22. Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to build a hospital out of town (not in Downtown Utica)?

The downtown location has been chosen as the best location for multiple reasons. It brings access to care to those who often utilize our services as well as improves access as it’s right off the highway. And, in order to obtain the $300 million Health Care Facility Transformation Grant, the hospital needed to be located in Oneida County’s largest population center, which has been determined to be Utica, and be part of a larger state initiative to revitalize urban centers in New York. If we didn’t receive the $300 million in funding from the state, we would be unable to afford to build a new hospital or even expand the St. Luke’s Campus and move operations from St. Elizabeth to that campus.

23. What happens if we don’t get the $300 million grant from the state?

We have already begun to draw funds from the grant, and we do not believe the grant is in any jeopardy. We remain very involved with our state partners and meet with them twice a month. The process of receiving the grant money so far has been very smooth.

24. What happens if the hospital isn’t built?

It would be very unfortunate for the future of healthcare in this region. We will have missed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform healthcare not only for today but for generations to come. Practically speaking, we would continue to provide excellent care to our patients and community members and try to accommodate and adapt to new advances in healthcare delivery and technology. However, it will handicap us to keep pace with the ever-changing healthcare landscape and maintain our competitiveness with other healthcare organizations. It will be harder to attract new physicians and the experienced staff we need to provide modern, contemporary healthcare.

25. Why are so many people opposed to the new hospital? Do they know something that we don’t?

Any project of this magnitude and visibility will draw both proponents and opponents. However, in the case of the hospital, there are very few opponents – you may think there are more because they are very vocal and have been attracting media attention.

MVHS, on the other hand, has been more focused on getting the work done to build a new hospital than to be fighting with them in the press. Note that this group doesn’t oppose a new hospital, they oppose the downtown location because, as one stated recently in a Facebook post, “Our group wants … positive developments that make Downtown Utica a place to live and visit in joyous times, a place to go and celebrate what Utica is and was known for in the past. Not a magnet for sick/unhealthy, injured and those who are unfortunately dying.” Healthcare exists to take care of the sick, the injured and those less fortunate. And we are so honored to do so.

What we do know is that this new hospital and healthcare campus will benefit the nearly 234,000 people in our region and the thousands of people we take care of each year. We are not focusing on the view of a small group of community activists but on meeting the healthcare needs of our community now and for generations to come.

That said, we do know that our community wants more information on the new hospital, our process and our progress. So we’ll make sure they have answers to their questions, understand the tremendous benefits to them and to other patients, to our employees and physicians and to the economy of this region. From excellent to exceptional: that’s what Central New York deserves.


China, Afghanistan and Pakistan on Saturday reiterated support for a politically negotiated settlement of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Foreign Minister of Pakistan Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Foreign Minister of Afghanistan Salahuddin Rabbani, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China Wang Yi held the 3rd Session of China-Afghanistan-Pakistan Foreign Ministers' Dialogue in Islamabad on Saturday.

The three sides noted with satisfaction the progress made under the trilateral cooperation since the 2nd Dialogue held in Kabul, on 18 December 2018. The three Foreign Ministers reiterated their resolve to further deepen various strands of trilateral cooperation. They agreed to continue their joint efforts for building political mutual trust and supporting reconciliation, regional peace and stability, development cooperation and connectivity, security cooperation and counter-terrorism as key areas of the trilateral cooperation.

The three sides condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul, Konduz, Baghlan and Farah, which have taken many innocent civilian lives including women and children.

In this regard, they took note of the talks between the U.S. and the Taliban. They expressed hope that intra-Afghan negotiations including direct negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban begin soon and lead to full cessation of violence bringing lasting peace for the people of Afghanistan. They particularly underlined the need for an inclusive, Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process leading to a comprehensive agreement for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan.

Based on respect for the will of the Afghan people, while appreciating the efforts made by the Government of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan

expressed their continued support for Afghanistan's peace and reconciliation process as well as for the efforts towards reconstruction and economic development in the country.

The three sides reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthening their relations, exploring new ways of deepening cooperation, including advancing connectivity under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Regional Economic Cooperation Conference on Afghanistan (RECCA) and other regional economic initiatives.

The three sides agreed to explore 'China-Afghanistan-Pakistan plus' cooperation, as well as working towards promoting trade and connectivity

projects between Afghanistan and Pakistan, such as Kabul-Peshawar Motorway.

Dialogue (CAPPCD). They agreed to continue cooperation in the fields of economic development, capacity building, improving livelihood and people-to-people exchanges.

China expressed its readiness to support construction of refrigeration storages, clinic centers, drinking water supply schemes and immigration reception centers at crossing points between Afghanistan and Pakistan to facilitate the movement of people and trade activities among the two

countries. The three sides welcomed the plans to hold a trilateral friendly cricket tournament among junior cricket teams of the three countries in Beijing in October 2019. They also agreed to arrange a capacity building workshop of young diplomats from the three countries under the Junior Diplomats Exchange Program to be held in Pakistan in October 2019.

The three Foreign Ministers agreed to organize an Archaeologists' Exchange Program, explore cooperation among the Red Crescent Societies of the three countries, besides regularly undertaking exchange projects in the areas of media, think-tanks, sports, joint training etc.


Artificial Intelligence Keynote Speakers

Artificial Intelligence: A Primer for Selecting Conference Keynote Speakers on the AI Topic

by Michael Humphrey

In 1995, the internet exploded with the promise of e-commerce and the digitalization of information.  The first keynote speakers talking about the internet were overwhelmingly IT scientists and technology futurists, sharing their insights as to WHAT the technology advancements were.

But after a few years, the business experts emerged, showing WHY it was important and HOW to use it for profit.

Artificial Intelligence SpeakerThe same is now happening with Artificial Intelligence, and related technologies such as autonomous systems, robotics, etc.  The fascination is currently on the WHAT, but we are already starting to see a shift toward the WHY and the HOW.  This means an eventual shift from computer scientists and futurists, to business strategy experts.

This is when the AI wave will become truly revolutionary for business.

The Key Shifts Include:

  • Business Strategy:   Robert Safian has been exploring what leading companies like Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, Nike, Goldman Sachs and others are already doing with AI to disrupt their industries
  • Future of Jobs:    Vivek Wadhwa is at Harvard University running the first ever global research study on how AI will change how we work and the future of professions.
  • Disruptive Innovation:    Michelle Lee shares the patent trends from the USPTO to learn where companies are making multi-billion-dollar bets on the future of AI.
  • Financial Future:    Nancy Giordano has been diving into the success of blockchain and crypto-currency technologies throughout the world.
  • Leadership Tools:    Rebecca Costa’s latest book looks at how AI and predictive analytics is providing leaders an accurate look into the future, changing how we make decisions and allocate strategic resources.
  • Medicine and Health:   Tarun Wadhwa has drilled down into the fascinating uses of AI that are changing every aspect of the medical and self-healthcare industries.

About the author:  Michael Humphrey is a 30-year veteran of the speaking industry and is currently the CEO of Nextup Speaker Management.

Conferences and Keynote Speakers

Meetings industry seeing more people, more dollars.

Kalamazoo, Mich. – In 2017, the meetings industry was robust, with an average of nearly 2,000 attendees and 54 events per association, finds a new report.  Overall, respondents were most likely to expect increases in meeting attendance (48 percent) and gross meeting revenue (46 percent) in 2018, with fewer expecting increases in sponsorship (37 percent) and particularly exhibitions revenue (28 percent). Continue reading


English and Russian Proverbs

Each language has proverbs, those simple, concrete sayings that crystalize common sense. Proverbs are a genre of folklore. They were created by people and passed from one generation to another as an oral tradition. They reflect the values and unique experience of the nation, and being the accumulated wisdom of many, they are a big

What I Learned Using Duolingo

Duolingo is undoubtedly one of the most popular language learning applications, if not the most popular one. Cute and simple interface; gamified learning script; ongoing competition between users; learning materials given in small, chewable pieces; audio with pronunciation of the words; achievable goals — all that makes Duolingo a very attractive and addictive application. But

Questions-and-Answers Lessons

Russian Online Libraries

Twisted Memory